They didn’t even waste time saluting before starting up the trees. I myself didn’t retreat between the trees. I stood just at the edge, clearly visible to the approaching riders, drawing their attention away from my men. Right out in the open—except for the big boulder right next to me that, if necessary, would work adequately as a cover.
‘Get ready.’ My command came out low. Too low to be heard over the thunder of the approaching enemies. Still, my men knew what to do. Behind me, I heard the click of hammers sliding into position.
Folding my arms, I hid my gun beneath my sleeve, raising it almost high enough to shoot. The first hints of faces were becoming visible in the white cloud racing closer. My grip on the gun tightened. Any moment. Any moment now…
‘Sahib!’
The gun dropped.
‘Karim?’
A big, black shape loomed up among the swirls of white. Moments later, the massive bodyguard shoved past the other riders, cantering along on the back of a poor horse that, while a giant beast to any other rider, looked like an exhausted little pony beneath the huge Mohammedan. And not just because he was heavy, no. Because he had something slung over the back of the horse—and it was most definitely not a wheat sack.
You’ve got her?
I didn’t dare utter the words out loud. But my eyes conveyed it clearly enough. Leaping from the horse, Karim grabbed the lifeless form from the back of his mount and lowered her to the snowy ground. In front of me, I saw the slim, somewhat sour face of the traitorous housemaid.
He had her.
Just not the ‘her’ I really wanted.
Of course, you fool! Of course he would bring the maid. You sent him after that traitor.
Enough time wasted.
‘Why is she unconscious?’ I demanded.
Karim’s brow wrinkled. ‘I am not certain, Sahib. I did not harm a hair on her head. When I caught up to her, I simp
ly grabbed her by the throat, held the tip of my sabre in front of her eyes and threatened to eviscerate her with my bare hands if she did not tell me everything she knew. She didn’t even give me a chance to enact any of my threats. She just lost consciousness for some mysterious reason.’
He shook his head at the strange ways of English women.
‘Did she tell you anything before she collapsed?’ I demanded.
‘No.’
‘I see.’ I would not let such a little thing as unconsciousness stand in my way. Time to get down to brass tacks. Especially since any other sort of tax was simply intolerable. ‘Johnson! Bayard!’
‘Yes, Sir?’
‘Hold her!’
‘Err…Yes, Sir, but why do you want us to—’
‘That’s why,’ I told them, scooping up two handfuls of snow and, unceremoniously, dropping them right into the traitor’s décolletage.
‘Iaaaaaah! Ah! Uh! What…?’
The girl jerked, flopping from left to right, trying to throw off the snow. Blinking, she stared up at the faces of the two men leaning over her, blocking her view of the sky.
‘G-gentlemen! Oh, thank God! It was only a nightmare. Good Sirs, you won’t believe this, but I had the most horrible nightmare! I dreamed that a savage attacked me in the middle of the English countryside and—’
That was the moment when Karim stepped into her field of vision.
‘Yaaaaaaah!’
‘She did that the last time I approached her.’ Karim frowned. ‘What does it mean? Is it a British expression?’